Field Level Media
Apr 15, 2019
Chris Davis hit his first home run of the season and the visiting Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 8-1 on Monday in the annual Patriots' Day game.
Davis hit a two-run blast off Boston's Heath Hembree in the eighth inning for his first home run since August 24 of last season.
Dwight Smith Jr. homered and drove in four runs and Dan Straily pitched five solid innings for Baltimore, which earned a split of the four-game series.
After giving up 10 runs in 4 2/3 innings in his past two appearances, Straily (1-1) allowed one run on two hits over five innings, lowering his ERA from 19.29 to 10.24.
Orioles' pitchers ended a streak of allowing a home run in each of their first 16 games, which tied a major league record set by the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies.
In a spot start for the Red Sox, Hector Velasquez (0-1) allowed a run in three innings.
Boston's J.D. Martinez had two hits -- including a double -- and has at least one hit in 16 of 17 games this season.
The Red Sox were without outfielder Andrew Benintendi, who left Sunday's game after fouling a ball off his right foot, and Jackie Bradley Jr. (flu). Infielder Eduardo Nunez also sat and catcher Christian Vasquez started at second base.
Velasquez walked four of the first eight Orioles, but the Red Sox trailed only 1-0 after two innings. Rio Ruiz walked to open the second, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Renato Nunez (three hits).
Baltimore's Richie Martin led off the fifth with a walk and later scored on Jonathan Villar's single. With two outs, Smith lined a homer just inside the Pesky Pole in right to make it 4-0.
The Red Sox got a run in the fifth on a fielder's choice. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was ejected while arguing that Rafael Devers violated the slide rule at second base while attempting to break up the double play.
Smith closed out the scoring with a two-run double in the ninth.
--Field Level Media